So you’ve invested in your website and have spent the necessary hours in discussions with web developers to design and create a site to be proud of.  

All this hard work is necessary to keep up with your competitors and be visible to Google and other search-engines. 

The style of website you create is generally down to personal preference from the many different looks and designs. 

Some people like to keep it basic and have static images of their stock and that’s it.  Others like to have flashing images and dynamic devices that provide for a more ‘exciting’ experience.  

 

Building Your Brand

Your website is your shop front and window to the world. 

It’s often the first impression customers will have of your business. Whether you like it or not, many will form an instant impression in the first few seconds. 

Therefore, the look and feel of what you show the world is crucial. You will need to provide people with a clear call to action of what you want them to do, now that they have found you online. 

Here at UrParts.com we want to help people find machine parts like hydraulic pumps, final drives, engines etc.  

Our homepage is very clearly designed making it easy to follow a simple and quick process. We outline the steps of how to submit a part request and make the process as clear as possible for the end user. 

 

Making An Order 

Some businesses might be selling parts directly online and have their stock advertised individually, so people can process the order and pay directly online. 

Then there are the traditionalists who still prefer to have people call them and talk over the phone.

Whichever method you prefer, one thing is for certain… people will very often do the opposite!

 

Making Contact

Experience has taught us that no matter how hard you try, many people don’t read what’s right in front of them on a screen. 

In our case some people are so focused on finding the part they need, they don’t read the instructions, rather spend time trying to find the phone number or email address to make contact directly. Even though we take great pains to explain that it’s not the most efficient use of their time; it makes no difference.

Sadly there is very little you can do to prevent this except remove all contact information from your site. However this is not advised as it doesn’t instil confidence that you’re a genuine business that can be trusted.

We find you can ask people over and over again to contact you in your preferred method of communication, for example by email. 

But if that’s not their preferred method you are knocking your head against a brick wall.  

Most people can recall telling someone to send them an email only to get a text message instead. 

Alternatively you send a text message to somebody and they respond via Whatsapp. 

Most recently, we even had a case where we were told to download WeChat as this is the only way our customer was willing to communicate.

 

Adapting To Changing Needs

In today’s ever changing fast paced society you need to be nimble and flexible in your approach to communication and be willing to adapt to multiple methods. Being rigid and unwilling to adapt to new technologies will mean potentially missing out on new business.

We see it all the time at UrParts. We encourage suppliers to reply to buyers promptly and give them as much information as possible. 

However time and time again some will simply reply with as little information as “Yes I have this part”

So now the buyer, who has already said what they’re looking for, has to go back again, asking “how much”. If the supplier had simply provided all the information in the first place the deal could have been concluded already.  

 

Empowered Buyers

Buyers have much more choice now that we operate in a global marketplace. 

In previous decades most people shopped local and went to the manufacturers’ appointed local dealers for their Cat, Komatsu, JCB and Volvo CE machinery parts. 

But all that has now changed as there are good used, reconditioned and aftermarket parts that can be delivered to your yard in days, if not hours. 

So, if you want to stay ahead of the curve you’ll need to realise that easy communication is key. 

The easier you make it for buyers to contact you, the more chance you have of expanding your customer base. If they want to do everything through Whatsapp, Wechat, Skype or carrier pigeon… well maybe not carrier pigeon!  It’s all about providing information in the easiest way possible for the buyers.

 

UrParts Carrier Pigeon